This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day

 

 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

- John 6:27-40 

 

On Saturday we read that, when evening came following Christ's feeding of the five thousand, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water of the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.  On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."

 

  "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  We remember that these people have sought to make Christ king by force, because of the miraculous food He gave them (see this reading).  So, He is speaking now in response to them and the things they seek Him for.  Note how Christ frames faith as the work of God, for faith includes not simply belief but faithful living, following the One whom God sent.  But yet again, the people respond with a demand for a sign, a work such as producing bread from heaven (see Exodus 16).  

 

 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."   Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  As has been remarked upon several times during our reading of John's Gospel, Jesus once again turns from "earthly" words and meanings to elevate them to spiritual meanings, to the meaning of His ministry and gifts to the world.  Here, the people must turn their minds from earthly bread, to the manna given during Moses' time, to Christ as the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  

 

 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."  My study Bible explains Christ's teaching, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."  It notes that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills -- one divine and one human.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, it explains, which was held at Constantinople (AD 680-681), it was proclaimed that the two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."

 

 Christ's closeness to the Father has already been repeatedly emphasized in St. John's Gospel.  In John 1:14, we read, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  Christ's glory is beheld by human beings, as He is the Word in the flesh, inseparable from His identity as only begotten of the Father.  In John 5:30, Jesus teaches, "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  At the Last Supper, Jesus will teach, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father; . . . Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works" (see John 14:8-10).  Fidelity in the words and actions of Christ is linked to both faith and obedience.  In this sense of faith that Christ teaches, we observe that to work the work of God through belief is to live in accordance with that belief, as He does in this collaboration with the Father.  Even the words He speaks to the disciples and to us are those given Him by the Father.  In our reading for today, Christ teaches that He has come into the world -- as the bread of heaven -- not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.  As human beings, we may wonder how it is possible to be so closely identified and allied with another being, and yet not lose our own distinct identity.  But this is the nature of the divine, and it is also the relationship to which Christ invites us, the participation in the life of Christ we may also enter, especially through the "bread" He will give us.  This is the very nature of the divine, and in Him it is mingled inextricably with His humanity, precisely so that we human beings may also share in and participate in this life.  Baptism gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit which dwells in us; divinity itself may also lead us through our faith, and thus through our own works and life, as we are able to accept that "grace and truth" given to us.  In this sense, Christ enters into our world as one of us ("in the flesh") so that we might become like Him in all the senses made possible for human beings.  Thus we are capable of receiving grace and truth to the extent that we are able, and as our human wills may embrace that faith.  This is the way Christ models faith and fidelity for us, so that we learn and are made capable of "working the works of God" as faith is taught to us in today's reading.  This is more than an intellectual process, but one that works through grace, as even the faith we're given relies also on God's work in us.  St. Paul writes, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).  And the foundation of all that Christ teaches is love; that is, the love of Father and Son, and that love extended to us.  For here is the first thing He then teaches about the Father's will:  "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."   That we will not be lost to God, but forever found and kept and raised to life.  Let us enter into His love and live our faith that we're given.  As we will come to read, the "bread of heaven" invites us into that life of participation and belonging, the cup of salvation.

 

 

 

 

My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority

 

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

 

- John 7:14-36 

 

Yesterday we read that, after the controversies surrounding His preaching (see chapter 6),  Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no  one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  We recall that this section of John's Gospel (John 7:1-10:21) concerns events at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day festival commemorating the time that Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai.  There is already a great deal of controversy surrounding Jesus:  the religious leaders seek Him, and the people debate about Him with many different opinions, but are afraid to speak openly for fear of the leadership. See yesterday's reading and commentary, linked above.  It is now the final year of Christ's earthly life and ministry.

Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  My study Bible comments that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness, it says, comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ this way:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."

"Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Of course Jesus is correct, there are those among the leadership who now seek to seize Him; in fact, a few verses down we're told that the religious leaders send officers of the temple to take Him.  Jesus refers to His healing of the paralytic on the Sabbath, which the religious leaders seized upon as a violation of the law of Moses (see this reading).  But here Christ also gives an example of a blameless violation on the Sabbath ("if a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath"), as He does elsewhere (see Matthew 12:3-5, for example).   Jesus says, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment," which can be said to sum up so much of His preaching.  It also reinforces His earlier statement about seeking the glory of God in all things, rather than personal glory, such as the actions of the religious rulers exemplify in their question to maintain authority by silencing Jesus.

 

 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  My study Bible comments that the crowds are mistaken, in both an earthly sense, and also in a divine sense.  In terms of His human life, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth in Galilee; but they are not aware that He was actually born in Bethlehem (verse 42; see Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't comprehend that Christ has come from the Father in Heaven, eternally begotten before all ages, and therefore His divine "origin" also remains unknown to them.  

Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  Once more, Jesus returns to His relationship to the Father who sent Him.  It is this on which so much hinges, Christ's identity and His word.  My study Bible comments that His hour is the time of His suffering and death.  It says that Christ is the Lord over time, an authority which is possessed by God alone.  Christ comes to His Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings (see John 8:20; 10:39).  

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."   My study Bible comments that Christ's statement refers to the His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven. 

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  To go among the Greeks means to go among the Gentiles, the Greek-speakers, as Greek was the lingua franca of the ancient world.  My study Bible says that this unwitting prophecy points to the time after Christ's Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.  

Jesus tells the people, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  It's important that we know He tells this to the people and not just to the religious leaders.  For what He is saying is that we are all capable of doing as He does.  Over and over again, what He emphasizes is His complete relationship, His unity with the Father.  But in today's reading, He teaches, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority."  Let us note, He says that this applies to anyone.  So He is inviting anyone, just one who wills to do the will of the One who sent Him, then that person will know concerning the doctrine:  whether it is from God or whether He speaks on His own authority.  Repeatedly in John's Gospel, Jesus has emphasized not only His own close tie or unity with the Father, but also the Father's pull of love upon us.  And now He says quite clearly that we also may understand concerning the doctrine He teaches, whether it is from God or whether He speaks on His own authority.  All it really takes is that deep internal willingness to separate ourselves from our own will, and to do as He does, to seek the will of the Father.  This is the key to truth and to knowing truth -- and it is the key to the capacity not to judge by appearance, but to judge with righteous judgment.  He makes clear the distinction between one who seeks only his own will, or one who seeks the will of the One who sent Him -- meaning the Father, and that this is the key to our own capacity for truth and the recognition of truth.  To use a modern coin of phrase, He is teaching us to divorce ourselves from our own egos so that we seek the will of God.  He makes a plea for the honesty of real humility, and teaches us how we are to practice discernment, the key to recognizing and knowing truth and living truth within ourselves.  He opens this door for all of us, for anyone.  This is not just for religious scholars, and not just for the enlightened elite, but requires of us the humility of true desire to do the will of God.  This is the response in us to the love of the Father that draws us; as He said in Tuesday's reading:  "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God'."  He has given us the key; let us endeavor to do our best to use it, to cultivate the humility and the desire to hear and respond to the love of God in truth.

 

 

 

Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done

 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."

And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.  But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"  When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"  And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this."  And He touched his ear and healed him.

- Luke 22:39-51

In yesterday's reading, the Lord said, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."  But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."  Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."  And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."  Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."  So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  And He said to them, "It is enough."

Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."    Christ's agony, my study bible notes, is an expression of His human nature.  His human will is expressed through His desire to take this cup away.  But He submits His human will to the Father, and reveals His divine will to be one with God the Father's.  Moreover, Christ's agony teaches us about our own struggles as His disciples; we seek to submit our will to God's, even as we pray "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (see 11:2).   My study bible quotes Gregory the Great:  "The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened."  He willingly takes on and expresses our humanity in Himself, and thereby conquers weakness.  But moreover, His understanding and message is that all things are in the hands of God.  This goes hand in hand with His teaching to the disciples, "Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."

And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.  But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"  When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"  And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this."  And He touched his ear and healed him.  Only St. Luke the physician gives us the story of this healing.  Christ has a way to go to His Passion, and it is not through violence.  There is also a spiritual meaning perceived in Christ's action:   Christ gives people the ability to hear the truth and thereby come to salvation (see 8:8, 14:35).

How do we know what God wants for us?  How do we know what God's will is, and what God wants us to do?  It seems to me that the one thing we can do always is pray as we have been taught:  "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (11:2).  This prayer is not an abstract plea or petition.  It is a personal prayer (although corporate in nature, as we pray to Our Father in heaven).  This is not merely about some future time that might happen to someone else in some future generation or age.  It is about the kingdom of God which lives within us, and which we seek to live through our worldly lives.  Today's reading specifically exemplifies that struggle, as given to us in and through Jesus Christ and His life in the world.  He struggles with what He knows the Father wants from Him, but His human nature is completely contrary to what He is asked to do.  And this, as my study bible says, becomes our own struggle.  There are times in our lives when we pray to know what God wants of us, and we come to find -- when we give up all our ideas of what we "should" do and "should" want -- that what God calls us to will take us outside of worldly expectations, social rules, family assumptions about good behavior, and everything else we know and believe to be nominally "good."  In our struggle to be faithful, there will be times when we will need to follow Christ in His footsteps, although our own sweat may be like great drops of blood falling to the ground, there is something we know we have to do and with which we need to follow through because it is our "hour" to do so.  We live in a modern world that might quite frequently call upon us to do something that seems good, but is not the place where we live God's will and God's kingdom lives in us.  We may find that living such a life calls upon us to do things that seem like we're going about things wrong-headedly:  a call to mercy might not bring us immediate monies or remuneration of a different kind, a "no" to someone may seem like it's unkind or socially awkward, a changed value system may call us to stand out among family or friends.  But this is what it is to seek to dwell in this Kingdom and follow the Father's will for us.  St. Paul says of this strange way of living the Kingdom, "We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now" (1 Corinthians 4:12).  Can we imagine the conflicts going through Jesus at this time in His agony?  What will become of His followers?  He knows that going to the Cross will be a "stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23).  And yet, it is what the Father asks of Him.  It is what He has repeatedly warned the disciples was coming.  In faith, He will go where He is asked to go, although every impulse within Him focuses the other way.  God will call us each in a unique way to bear our own crosses.  We, of course, are not Christ Himself, but we will be asked -- in one way and another -- to participate in His life.  Through this participation our lives will be shaped, we will find ourselves changed, and looking back on the pathway we're given, we'll find that despite all our expectations to the contrary, God had a plan.  The times when we refuse that will and give in to the worldly pressures will turn out to be obstacles that later need to be overcome and revisited, and they will call for courage on our part.  This is my experience.  Let us pray, "Your will be done," and live that Kingdom in the world as best we can, and follow Him.  Let us note that an angel comes to strengthen Christ, in response to His prayer.  Moreover, it is prayer that He chooses at this time of struggle, and prayer to which He exhorts His followers in this terrible time of temptation.  These examples teach us how powerful prayer really is -- and what it means to be truly awake to the present moment of our lives.

This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day

 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from the heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

- John 6:27-40

Yesterday we read that when evening came (after the feeding in the wilderness), His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.  On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."

 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from the heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  We see the point of view of the people:  they are impressed by signs and power, but moreover they especially look to Christ because of the bread with which He fed them when they were hungry.  But Christ tries to turn their minds to faith.  When they ask, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus enforces purely a "work of faith," so to speak:  This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.   Yet again, they demand a tangible sign in order to do so.  They quote from Scripture, Exodus 16:4, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 78:24-25, regarding the bread from heaven.   Jesus points back to the Father, the true source of the bread from heaven, and Himself as that very bread of God.

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."   Once again, even in declaring Himself to be the bread of life, Christ emphasizes the unity between Himself and the Father.  It is those whom the Father gives Him that He seeks.   He is the bread of life come down from heaven, not to do His own will but the will of the Father.   My study bible notes here that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills -- the divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople in 680-681, it was proclaimed that these two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but that "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."   Jesus emphasizes the will of the Father, which directs all that He Himself does as Son of God and Son of Man:  the bread of life must lose nothing which the Father has given Him but rather raise it up; that is, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

When Jesus speaks of everlasting life, one can't help but remember the stories of Jesus' Resurrection and the associated appearances to the disciples before His Ascension into heaven.  Jesus speaks of raising up all that the Father has given Him.   What does this mean?  We think of "all that the Father has given Him" as all those who are believers.  But reviewing the stories of the risen Christ who appeared to the disciples, we may expand our perspective on what this means.  In chapter 20, it is Mary Magdalene who first sees the risen Christ (20:14-18).  The quite odd and striking thing about this story is that she doesn't recognize Him, until He calls her name.  This gives us a clue that this isn't just the Jesus who's had a ministry in Israel, but rather Christ who is preparing to ascend into heaven, in a different kind of body that is more than His human body.  Next He appears to the disciples (20:19-29), and the text tells us specifically that He showed them His hands and His side (verse 20).  Then, in order to "hammer home" (so to speak) the point, the text tells us that Thomas had not been there when Christ made His appearance to His disciples, and Thomas specifically says, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe" (verse 25).  After eight days, John tells us, Jesus appeared again to them all, and tells Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing" (verse 27).  All of this is to explicitly emphasize that the experiences of the human Christ are also raised in His Ascension.  We can specifically conclude that "all that [the Father] has given Me" includes not simply our persons as believers, but also those experiences and actions in the world that go with us as we have sought to live our faith.  Let us consider all that the Father gives Him.  The Greek word for "all" in the text doesn't mean every person; it is a word that means everything. It is my view that the Gospel is teaching us that nothing is lost of life lived in faith.  Everything touched by faith in Christ has life in it, is given life, because it becomes a part of the substance of truth.  Therefore this bread of life becomes something that conveys life to the world in the broadest and deepest sense.  What it touches in faith becomes imbued with an essence in the way that the Eucharist is a "super-essential" bread for the new day of the Lord.  Christ, as the bread of heaven, has the power to imbue all things with life -- even as the Church testifies historically to the holiness not just of persons but even of objects which have been touched by those working in faith.  What is touched by Christ and used within the Body of Christ is endowed with a capacity for life that is more than a worldly understanding of life, and this of course is a picture of the Eucharist itself.  We can't really fathom these mysteries.  We don't know Christ's Ascended life, and we can't imagine even the worldly capacities of holy people and holy things, and what life is carried through faith and what it can do.  But we may have the testimonies of people whose lives have been touched by Christ who is the bread of life, who have experienced "more" than the life they knew, their own personal experiences of a resurrection in their own lives:  a second chance, a new identity given through faith, and maybe the most potent of all -- a changed experience of life itself, a transformed and transcendent gift they could not have imagined was a possibility.  Through faith we may find a strength we didn't think we had the capacity for, a new start and new hope in what seemed like a hopeless circumstance, a new day in what was a sea of darkness.  We just don't know what the life He holds for us can give -- our worldly perspective not capable of discerning all the possibilities of the life He offers.     The powerful life Christ has to give isn't only about the fact that we breathe and have consciousness; it is also what we do in faith, our experience of living with His love and acting in His name.  Even -- if we believe the story of His appearance to the disciples -- our suffering for our faith will be a part of what is raised with us.  Let us consider the power of His life that He offers to us, and all that it may mean for our worldly capacity to truly live the life of the Kingdom, even here and now.

If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"   The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?" 

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

- John 7:14-36

On Saturday we read that Jesus practiced His ministry in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  (The lectionary has skipped over chapter 6 for now, and we have begun reading in chapter 7.)  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; other said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  We recall that Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn harvest festival, commemorating the time when Israel wandered in the desert of Sinai, led by Moses.  Here my study bible comments that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize the authority of God over our lives and our existence in the created cosmos.  My study bible quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of god.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."

"Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"   The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."   Jesus turns here to the themes which repeat themselves throughout His reported ministry in the Gospels.  What is a violation of the Sabbath?  What constitutes an act against the will of God?  As in other instances, He here states a "blameless" violation of the Sabbath, that of circumcision, as given by law of Moses (or as the text says, from the fathers).    He cites not only the purpose of the Law, but the full aim of the will of God:  to heal.  To judge with righteous judgment is to do what He has said in the verses above:  to desire above all to do the will of God.

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  My study bible notes that these crowds are mistaken, in two ways.  That is, in both an earthly sense and a divine sense.  As human being, they are thinking of Jesus as being from Nazareth of Galilee, but this is not the truth.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem (7:42; Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't understand that Christ has come from the Father in Heaven, and as the divine Son He is eternally begotten before all ages.  Therefore, this divine "origin" also remains unknown to them.   The crowds, as reported by John, reflect the confusion of the people regarding Jesus.  But Christ's emphasis remains on the desire to love and serve God, and the wisdom this confers.

Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"   Christ's hour is the time of His suffering and death.  He is the Lord over time, which is an authority possessed by God alone, as my study bible notes.  Jesus comes to the Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings.  See also 8:20, 10:39.  John repeatedly gives us instances where Christ is the object of murderous intent, but it is not yet His hour.

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."   Christ refers to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  It is a confirmation regarding His total foreknowledge and understanding of the culmination of His mission in the world.

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  We are reminded yet again that the term the Jews is a political term in John's Gospel, used to denote the leadership.  (As opposed to the people, and the crowd.)   To go among the Greeks is to go among the Gentiles; that is, the Greek-speaking populations of the world, for at this time Greek was the international common language in the way that English is today.  The Dispersion is the Diaspora of the Jews among the Gentile populations.  My study bible says that this is an unwitting prophecy by the leaders (and not the last one; see 11:50), which points to the time after the Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the Apostles. 

The confusion of the crowds speaks volumes.  It tells us about our own places in the world, and how confusing it is to find truth.  Even the leadership are confused as well, and perhaps led even more astray than the crowds are by their own envy and resentment and outrage that Jesus seems to be violating and upstaging their authority.  But Jesus Himself gives us all the key here to understanding Him, His aim, His works, and our own places in the universe.  He gives us one great key to seemingly all things, and in particular to wisdom:  "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority."  This is the key not only to doing as He teaches:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  But it is also given as the key to His own knowledge, when the leaders ask themselves, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  What Jesus offers us, then, in today's reading, is the key to discernment, to wisdom, and to good judgment.  That is, a sincere desire to do the will of God, to put our own wills second, and to find and to serve God's will.  This is no easy thing.  It's not simply about following rules written down and interpreted for us somewhere, as the passage clearly illustrates since so much evolves here around Jesus healing on a Sabbath.  The real key to seeking to know and do the will of God is in prayer, in dialogue.  And what is that dialogue like?  So much depends upon silence, upon our own capacity for silence and stillness in prayer.  The Psalmist tells us, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).  Christ teaches us about intimate prayer with our Father who sees in secret -- even about the importance of "secretness" (if we may call it that).  "Secret" is another word for mystery in the Greek, we must remind ourselves.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us that when we pray, we are to "go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place" to "your Father who sees in secret" (see Matthew 6:5-6).  Let us consider the practices of monastic prayer designed to take us to this secret place with our Father who sees in secret, such as the Jesus Prayer, and remember that there is in our depth a kind of sacred silence into which we pray.  (Here is a rather thorough article on the practice of the Jesus Prayer, or Prayer of the Heart.)  It is said that God prays in us in silence, with language we're not keen enough to understand as anything but silence.  But this is also a great mystery.  Nevertheless, what remains with us is Christ's great teaching, this great key to all things:  that it is the will to do the will of God that really gets us someplace in life, that gains us the benefit of wisdom and understanding, discernment and good judgment.  This involves great humility, and its cultivation in ourselves, as Jesus says:  "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  Let us understand Him.  This is the way of the Cross (see Matthew 16:23-27).  Today is the day on which many branches of the Church commemorate the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary the Mother of God.  How could Mary have heard Gabriel speaking to her?  How could she have given her assent to the will of God?  Let us consider her as the model, even as His mother, for each of us.  Consider her life and what was of most central importance to her, how she remained with Him through all things and even at the Cross.  In humility we listen and accept and seek God's will for our own, even through all the times of our lives. 

Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

In the meantime, His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And may more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

- John 4:27-42

Yesterday we read that when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said, to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband.' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"   The disciples marveled not only that Jesus was speaking with a Samaritan, but also that she was an unaccompanied woman.  This was potentially scandalous.  They are apparently so stunned that they don't ask Him a thing.  For more instances of Christ's dealings with women, see, 7:53-8:11; 11:20-33; 20:11-18 (see also Luke 8:1-3).  As so many of these examples are in John's Gospel, we must once again pause to wonder about the relationship of the Evangelist John with the Mother of our Lord, Mary, and the insights gained through such closeness, particularly regarding Jesus' kindness toward and high regard for women.

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.   This woman becomes an early evangelist, by testifying to the advent of Christ and bringing others to Him.  My study bible notes that according to an early tradition, after the Resurrection she was baptized with the name Photini, meaning "the enlightened one."  Along with her two sons and five daughters, tradition tells us that she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero, by being thrown into a well.  Her memory is celebrated on March 20, and the fourth Sunday of Easter in the Eastern Church.

In the meantime, His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  Here is another occasion of misunderstandings, used to advantage in John's Gospel by Jesus to teach about the deeper realities of God.  They are occasions for which we must have "ears to hear" (Matthew 13:9).  Jesus fulfills His role as Christ by doing the will of the Father, and therefore this is His food.  This also teaches us that we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares, my study bible tells us (6:27; see also Matthew 4:4, 6:25-33).

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  St. John Chrysostom comments that Jesus' command to the disciples to "Behold" comes to tell them to look as the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Christ.   Jesus compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields ready for harvest.  My study bible notes that this command is also to all believers to look to those around us and to share the gospel with anyone who wants to hear it, regardless of race or ethnicity.

"And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  Again, turning to St. John Chrysostom, we are taught here that those who sow and those who reap are the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles, respectively.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the Messiah, although they did not see His coming and so, therefore, did not reap.  The apostles haven't done the preparation, although they would draw thousands to Christ in their lifetimes.  Whenever we bear fruit, in our own lives or with others, we also enter into others' labors;  even reading the Gospel we do so as well.  To recognize the great communion of saints is to know that we are part of a grand chain of faithful whose measure we cannot take, but the benefit of which we nevertheless reap and partake within.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And may more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."  My study bible remarks upon the fact that these foreigners -- who are nominal enemies of the Jews -- are the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world.  It truly shows that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

In today's reading, we are reminded of Christ's word to the disciples regarding the little children brought to Him for a blessing.  The disciples felt this was diminishing to Christ's honor.  But He told them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (see Matthew 19:13-15).  And earlier, Jesus had taught them, when giving teachings regarding the importance of humility in their positions in His Church, that "whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me" (see Matthew 18:1-7).   It seems that the greatest lesson the disciples of Christ need to learn will always be about humility.  And here in today's reading (as well as yesterday's) is an extraordinary account given by John about this first open and direct revelation by Jesus of His divine identity as Messiah and Son.  Jesus' teachings about little children apply to all who might be seen as diminutive in social stature, within any context.  It really matters not at all what social structure we speak of.  We don't know and cannot judge where believers will be found, where a pure heart ready to receive Christ is going to be.   In the few references Jesus has given us about practicing discernment, He has taught the disciples, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces"  (Matthew 7:6), given in the context of correcting others.  Also in Matthew's chapter 7, He teaches in the context of those who would be leaders of His Church, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."   He also goes on to condemn the hypocrisy of those whose appearance is devout, but who do not truly care for the will of God.  What we can infer from these teachings, and Christ's open expression of His identity to this Samaritan woman, is that His teachings extend only to discernment regarding the hearts of people, whether or not they truly are capable of receiving and loving and practicing the will of God.  All other nominal barriers do not exist for Christ, and they should not exist for us.  We note the great experiential emphasis here:  our faith is not theoretical, nor is it governed by legalistic boundaries.  It is rather dynamic and organic:  we know by evidential experience, we meet all who may come to Christ with particular boundaries of personal behavior relying above all on humility and a capacity for discernment.  He does not tell us that following His teachings amounts to a pretense that every person is pure of heart or well-intentioned.  Rather, His is a balanced mission, once again based in ongoing experience.  In Matthew chapter 10, He teaches the disciples as He sends them out on their first apostolic mission, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."   Our cultural prejudices have no place in this dynamic missionary picture, neither does social status one way or another (we have already been given the example of Nicodemus the Pharisee in chapter 3), nor even age.  What we glean from His teachings taken altogether is that our personal prejudices or social context do not inform us about mission and judgment.  Only His truth can really guide us, as we seek to fulfill the will of God, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in a communion which links to the spiritual depths within each of us.  As each is endowed with spirit, so each is capable of responding to Christ.  It is there we start, and remain -- and there the extraordinary action of today's reading is possible.  Living Christ's faith is an ongoing full-on dynamic engagement in life itself.   Each is to "come and see."  We remember His teaching that "with God, all things are possible," and we remain alert as He teaches us, always ready to be surprised by the action and will of the Spirit of God -- both in us and among us.

My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

- John 7:14-36

On Saturday, we read that after the events of chapter 6 in John's Gospel, Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the religious leaders sought to kill Him.  Now the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of religious leaders.

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  The Feast, we remember, is the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn festival commemorating the time when Israel wandered the desert of Sinai, living in temporary dwellings (tents or "tabernacles").  While the leadership seeks by now to rid themselves of Him, the people are divided.  My study bible says that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness comes from the unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.

"Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."   Jesus is referring to events that occurred in chapter 5, at an earlier festival in Jerusalem (the Feast of Weeks), when He healed a man on the Sabbath.  See Rise, take up your bed and walk.  My study bible quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ this way:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be affected in this way." 

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."   The people are mistaken about where this Man is from, in both an earthly and a divine sense.  In human terms, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth in Galilee, but they're unaware that He was actually born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7).  Beyond this, they can't understand that He's come from the Father in Heaven, eternally begotten before all ages, and therefore His divine origin is also unknown to them.  As we can see, in both today's reading and Friday's, Jesus' reference is over and over again to the Father and our knowledge or understanding of Him.

Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"   His hour is the time of His suffering and death.  Christ, says my study bible, is the Lord over time, an authority possessed by God alone.  He comes to His Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings (see 8:20; 10:39).

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Jesus refers here to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  To go among the Greeks means to go among the Gentiles (that is, those who speak Greek, which was the international language of the time).  This is an unwitting prophecy, says my study bible, pointing to the time after His Ascension when Christ's name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.

In the reading from Friday, and in today's reading, Jesus repeatedly returns to the love of the Father as the guiding principal in our understanding of Christ.  Without this love, understanding is absent.  We won't understand that which is "of God" in any other context.  We won't recognize the Son, we can't understand His words.  Jesus despairs again and again that the leadership which questions Him, which disparages Him, which wants to rid themselves of Him can't understand nor recognize anything about Him.  It's a question of honor, in Friday's reading, as well.  Is it worldly honor we recognize ("the honor that comes from men") or the kind of honor that is in the love of God?  In Saturday's reading, He tells His "brothers" (or extended family), who do not believe in Him, that "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."    Christ asserts a difference between life lived with a love of God and life with this love absent from it.  When He speaks of the works of the world that are evil, He's speaking of the "worldly" not as the world itself or any element in it, but that which is separated from the love of God.  When He speaks of "the honor that comes from men" (Friday's reading), it is an honor absent the honor that comes from God.  In today's reading He also speaks of the authority and the glory that comes from God.  St. Gregory of Nazianzus writes extensively about salvation and the Incarnation of Christ.  He writes that Christ's full incarnation as human being enables salvation, because "that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved."  It is in the context of the unifying love of the Father taught by Jesus in today's reading that we may understand this theology.  United to God, all is saved, all is worthy.  In this love, in this communion, everything is changed.  It is in the absence of such communion that we are blind, we fail to see, and we fail to know the true worth of human life and all of creation, including the goodness of the world.  It is this love that teaches us true honor, and true life, and gives us a grasp of the values of which we are capable, even the love of which we are capable.  Christ comes into the world from a place He says these people who disparage Him do not know.  They can't understand Him, they can't recognize what He's about.  But His mission is to save, to unite God and human beings, to renew the whole world through this saving mission of communion and unification "for the life of the world" (and not only human beings).  This is the one thing necessary, the thing that saves us from blindness.  In His life, He offers it to us.  Are we capable of grasping what He offers?

He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

- John 4:27-42

In yesterday's reading, we read about the woman at Jacob's well. Jesus is in Samaria, home to a people who were traditional enemies of the Jews. They worshiped the same God, but held only to the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. Jesus revealed Himself to her through a series of questions and answers, gradually revealing more and more, drawing her in with His metaphors or riddles in some sense, a parable of "living water." Eventually, He told her, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" Jesus has revealed Himself, in His full identity as Christ, to this Samaritan woman. They have spoken alone, no one else has been near. Quite clearly, Jesus chose to draw her out, in order to reveal Himself to her specifically. Now His disciples come upon this scene, and are astounded that He would be speaking with a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman. Jews were not allowed to converse publicly with a woman. My study bible says, "Jesus' words and actions transcend ethnic and gender-related customs of the time."

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him. This woman, singled out by Christ for a theophany, or revelation of God, now becomes, in effect, the very first evangelist. An unlikely candidate indeed! And in that, we open our eyes once again to the revelation of the Gospel and what we must understand through it. My study bible says that this woman, according to tradition, was baptized after the Resurrection, and given the name Photini -- in Greek, this means "the enlightened one." Tradition tells us that she, along with her two sons and five daughters, went to Carthage to spread the Gospel. All of them were arrested under Nero, imprisoned at Rome, and martyred. In many branches of the church, she is called St. Photini, and tradition holds that she, who met Christ beside the well, was martyred for Him by being thrown into a well.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." Again, we have an example of Jesus drawing out people's understanding with statements that on the surface have a different meaning than the one He is introducing to them. His metaphors, or riddles, also appearing as parables, often work this way -- but this conversation is typical of Jesus' style of drawing out meanings for people in John's Gospel. In this case, we understand bread, or food, as that which serves the whole of the self -- particularly the spiritual reality of a person. His work and His food is to "do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." We are introduced to evangelism via the woman at the well, and Jesus begins to teach His disciples what their commission should be, their food, as well.

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" An interesting statement, in light of the context and where Jesus and His disciples are -- as those from the city are called by Photini, they come to Christ for themselves. They are traditionally thought to have been dressed in white.

"And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." My study bible says that the Father is the sower and Jesus is the reaper. He will also send the disciples to reap. In yesterday's reading, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the Father is seeking "true worshipers," who "will worship Him in spirit and truth." The fields ripe for harvest are the fruit of the labors of others -- but Jesus' disciples will be sent to reap the harvest. In this we can see all the labors of those who work and have worked for salvation in the world - we all enter into a harvest for which we did not work. All those "others" who have labored would of course include the countless figures of the Old Testament, patriarchs, prophets, John the Baptist and so many more. This ongoing labor is in some sense outside of our normal framework of time: it is a project involving those who have been "sent"in so many ways. Our process is ongoing, we all enter into one another's labor, and that of the Father and Son and Spirit. My study bible says of the disciples, "Their apostolic mission has been implicit from their initial calling." And, we can presume, His direct and special address to Photini is also a part of this process.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." My study bible says, "The Samaritans are the first to recognize Jesus as Savior of the world. The gospel is for all people." And so it is. St. Photini teaches all about what He revealed to her, and then they come to see for themselves. In some sense, this is identical to the process of picking His disciples we read about in the beginning of John's Gospel: Andrew is chosen, and then he brings his brother Simon Peter. Philip is chosen, and he finds Nathanael. But all have to come to Christ to truly find their calling, to experience this reality. And so it is with the Samaritans. There are no barriers to Christ, but each must come of his own choice, and see for themselves.

How do we find faith? It is necessary, in my opinion, to have our own spiritual encounter, whether that be at worship, in prayer, in times we call upon God or Christ to help us, at times we may least expect it. One thing is certain: Jesus has told us, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." In the Greek, we remember, wind and Spirit are the same word, pneuma. Jesus reveals Himself to the woman at the well, and we can learn from this that there are no barriers, no patterns, no stereotype to salvation but faith and those who are willing to worship "in spirit and truth." The Father still seeks those who will do so. Can you be an instrument of His labor, and help to reap the harvest He seeks?